A fire will normally advance upwardly within a building causing large volumes of heated air, smoke, and other products of combustion to travel to the upper areas of the building with the result that victims can be trapped in the upper floors of a building by the intense heat and gases.
During a fire fighting operation, it is often necessary to send a fire fighter to the roof to vent the roof. This can be a dangerous operation due to the possible collapse of the roof by virtue of the upward travel of the combustion pattern.
It has been recognized that there is a need for controlling the direction of travel of the combustion in a burning building. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,703,808 and 4,779,801 are directed to smoke eliminator devices which act to create a draft and draw smoke outwardly through a window in the building. In accordance with the aforementioned patents, the smoke eliminator includes a rigid tube which is to be connected to a fire hose and the outer end of the hose is provided with a C-shaped contour which terminates in a fogging nozzle. In use, the C-shaped butt section is used to smash a second story window, and the C-shaped butt section is then inserted through the broken window with the nozzle facing outwardly. The flow through the fogging nozzle creates an aspirating action to draw smoke outwardly from the building through the window.
However, devices as shown in the aforementioned patents have serious disadvantages. There is no adjustment of the spray pattern, nor any adjustment of the position of the nozzle relative to the window or opening. Further, as the fogging nozzle is located in a second story window at a substantial distance above the position of the fire fighter, it is difficult to properly adjust the position of the nozzle. As a further disadvantage, the device as described in the aforementioned patents, can only be used as a smoke eliminator and cannot be used to extinguish a blaze. Because of these shortcomings, devices of this type have seen limited use.